The invention relates to a dry-developing negative resist composition. More particularly, the invention relates to a negative resist composition which can be developed through an oxygen plasma, argon gas plasma, mixed oxygen-argon gas plasma, or mixed oxygen-fluorine gas plasma after its exposure to ionizing radiation such as an electron beam, X-ray, ion beam, or deep ultraviolet ray.
Resists developed using developing liquids have heretofore been used for forming resist patterns in the manufacture of electronic devices such as semiconductor integrated circuits. For instance, polymethyl methacrylate has been used as a positive electron beam resist, and polyglycidyl methacrylate has been used as a negative electron beam resist. Conventional resists developed using developing liquids, however, swell or shrink when developed, thus making it difficult to form patterns of the order of submicrons.
On the other hand, dry-developing resists have recently been developed, as disclosed, for example, in "Plasma-Developed X-Ray Resists", J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 127, No. 12, pp 2665 to 2674. However, conventional dry-developing resists do not have a resistance to plasma high enough for the formation of very fine resist patterns.